Page 19 of Ly to Me (Devils of Alliston Springs #1)

Carver

The Kiss

L yra was already back on the porch by the time I got the coyote to the treeline and started to dig.

Having done this more times than I could count with several different kinds of animals, it wasn’t long before I was walking up the stairs, wiping the dirt and sweat from my forehead while staring back at my wife.

“Better wipe the look of disgust off your face before company comes.”

The glower she gave could’ve scared that coyote off before I shot it. “You’re okay with him coming and seeing me like this?” Her hands swept down the length of her torso, gliding right over her slight curves.

I leaned against the railing, drinking her in.

“Absolutely.” In nothing but my short-sleeved t-shirt that reached the middle of her thigh and a pair of boots, she was a sight.

I could be pissed at her all I wanted, but no amount of anger would ever mar how in-fucking-credible she looked—especially looking like mine .

Jamie didn’t have to know the details. Just looking at her would tell him what he needed to know.

She crossed her arms over her chest, drawing my eyes to the bottom hem of her shirt. “I’m not fucking both of you, you know.”

Just the imagery of that made me see red. “Remember what I said? If you ever think about fucking him, I’ll kill him.”

She scoffed. “Big talk for an ex-Marine. Don’t you all live by some kind of moral code?” Her eyes scanned my body like that code would be inked on my skin somewhere. I shifted enough to cover the one that would send her through the woods again.

“Dunno what their code is, seeing as I never enlisted.”

Her color paled over, then her eyes darted behind me as gravel crunched beneath tires. “Shit,” she muttered.

“Come here.”

“What?”

“Come. Here.” The gravel stopped grinding together. “Now, Ly.”

“No.”

“Don’t make me grab you and slam you against the wall. We can make this look sweet, or I can take what’s mine any way I see fit.”

She mulled that over quickly, then slapped on a fake smile and took a few steps toward me. I quickly closed the distance and slid my hand around her waist.

“Smart girl.”

“Shut up.”

My other hand snapped around her throat. Her brown eyes widened, the golden edges catching the sunlight as the truck door behind me opened.

“Time to look like you love me again.” Before she could answer, I pulled her body flushed to mine and sealed my lips to hers.

Lyra was stiff at first, but as bootsteps neared, she let go. Her tongue swept into my mouth, and something inside me flipped on, burning back to life. Something far worse than a fixation on haunting memories, or the desire to make her pay for shit that happened years ago.

This Lyra was soft, malleable, and fit in my arms like she’d never left them. This version of Lyra promised to end me before I could end her.

My fingers slackened around her throat as her arms snaked around my neck.

When my hand slid down to cup her ass, she didn’t twist away or tell me off.

No, she moaned, and those vibrations shot from her mouth to torn and tattered places no one should have access to, all before going right to my dick.

“Well, well, well. This must be the wife.”

Fuck Jamie.

I kept her firmly against me, sucking her lip into my mouth before slowly releasing it with my teeth. Her heavy lids fluttered open and my eyes latched onto the blush staining her cheeks and the swelling of her lips. I was ready to lift Lyra up and carry her to our bedroom.

I wish I could say I couldn’t remember the last time I felt something from a kiss, but that’d be a lie.

I knew the exact day and time and who it had been with.

That memory alone had been on a torturous loop inside my insidious head.

I could remember the feel of her against me, and the glide of my fingers against her skin as she pulled away.

Just like she was doing now as she peeled herself from my hold and stepped back, then leaned against the wall.

“Jamie.” I rubbed at my suddenly tight jaw, feeling cold. “Finally made it back for the rest?”

“Yeah, but seems like I came at a bad—” Jamie squinted and took a step closer. “Holy shit, wait. Lyra?”

“Watch it.” I threw up my hand, barring Jamie from stepping any closer to my wife.

Jamie’s chuckle came out choppy. “Nah. That can’t be.” His grimy pointer finger bounced between her and me. “She have a twin I didn’t know about?”

Lyra smoothed her hands down the borrowed shirt that devoured her curves, regaining some of the composure I’d stolen. “No, it’s me.” His jaw popped open as Lyra’s hand slid into mine.

I’d forgotten how soft and fragile her hands felt.

Her head cocked at Jamie. “Why, is that so shocking or somethin’?” She smoothed down her hair with her free hand. “It’s the hair, right? Thought I needed a change.” Lyra shrugged and smiled sweetly up at me.

But it was all fake. Every second. It was written all over her face. Had that kiss been fake for her, too?

Fuck it, I knew it was.

She hates you. She’s only doing it for the money.

“Yeah.” Jamie glanced between us, then smacked his hand on my shoulder. “Well, shit. Congrats, I suppose.”

The way I wanted to slam my fist in his face—

“You came for your stuff?” Lyra asked. My twitching fingers lost their warmth as Lyra pulled her hand from mine.

Jamie’s gaze darted between our hands, possibly noticing we were both missing rings.

Sly Lyra was quick to catch on, clasping her hands together in front of her.

She gestured toward the front door with her chin. “Doors unlocked. You can head inside.”

Just like that—the warmth, that fleeting moment of insanity between our tongues and lips—it was all gone. She could try that shit on anyone else, but not with me. Not while she still had to do as I said.

“Jamie,” I said right before he got any closer to my front door. He slowly turned. “You got Aubrey in the truck?”

“Yeah.” He dragged the word like he was pulling it through mud.

Playing house with Ly needed more ante, and that ante was looking like an ex-roommate and his on-and-off fling.

“She wanna come in?” I pulled a toothpick from my pocket and stuck it between my teeth, then grinned at my wife.

Lyra’s fake smile and homely posture waned.

“You mean, like, to help?” Jamie asked, scratching the back of his head. “I’m probably better off doing it myself.”

“Nah, come in. Have a beer.” Lyra scowled as I waved to the blonde in the truck. She wanted to act like that kiss didn’t completely shift her world back into my orbit?

Fine.

Let’s see how far she’ll go before she breaks .

“You sure?” Jamie questioned. “Did you hit your head or something? You’ve got blood on you.”

“Another coyote. All good. Lyra here actually ran to help save the horses from it, didn’t you, sugar?”

Lyra’s still-swollen lips rubbed in as she nodded enthusiastically, slapping that fake persona right back in place. “Sure did.” She stepped in closer. “And then my sweet hubby here saved me.”

I pushed off the railing, acting like I didn’t see her right as her hand reached for mine. I played it off by making my way to the door, and when I passed Jamie, I smacked his shoulder with that same hand—twice as hard as he’d done to me.

Two birds, one pissed-off and ready-to-play stone.

He winced. “So, a beer? Lyra here can tell you all about how she fell for me that night we played poker and we just couldn’t wait to get hitched.

” I didn’t need to turn to know my wife was now shooting bullets with her eyes into the back of my skull.

“I feel like I’ve known her my whole life, really.

Crazy how that works, right, babycakes?” Yep.

Bullets. I grinned and flashed her a wink.

With Jamie’s ears on us, but eyes on Aubrey as he waved her out from the truck, Lyra was free to drop the act.

For all of two seconds.

“Can’t wait to hear all about it.” Jamie’s attention fell back to Lyra, who immediately fixed the sneer over her lips, twisting them into the fake smile I loathed.

If she flashed him that smile one more goddamn time tonight, I’d make her wrap those twisted lips around my cock and force her to choke on the facade of us she hated so much.

The tapping of Jamie’s fingers on the glass bottle in front of him was irritating.

Hell, just having him sit across from me was enough, because he kept looking at Lyra in a way that bordered on admiration.

The kind that was directed more at her chest than at her gorgeous face, probably wondering what her tits looked like beneath my goddamn shirt.

I wanted to smash his face into the table for even acknowledging that part of her.

“Ugh, I knew somethin’ was going on between you two at the table that night,” Aubrey supplied after some back-and-forth conversation I’d tuned out while imagining digging another grave for Jamie beside the coyote in the woods.

“Was that the first night you two, ya know.” Aubrey winked at us both. Lyra’s cheeks turned pink.

“Lyra was saving herself for marriage,” Jamie piped in, earning himself a glare from his woman.

“That explains all the blood.” I smirked into my beer as I took a sip.

The hue on Lyra’s face turned scarlet.

Aubrey gasped. “No! You were a virgin?” She bit down on her lip. “How was it?”

“Aubrey!”

Lyra swirled her beer glass on the table. “Great,” she answered, but it sounded like she was talking about the weather.

Not good enough, Ly.

I tugged her into my lap with less resistance than I expected. “She means it was mind-blowing,” I amended, settling my palms on her thighs. Goosebumps erupted along her skin as I trailed my fingers back and forth, dipping between her legs and coming back up to the top.

Aubrey propped her chin on her hand. “I bet it was.”

“Sex with me is better,” Jamie said as he tried to pull the same move I’d just done with Lyra, only Aubrey didn’t budge.